Abu Simbel is two massive rock-cut temples in the village of Abu Simbel near the border with Sudan on the western bank of Lake Nasser. Temple of Ramesses II on left, temple dedicated to Nefertari, chief consort of Ramesses II, for the worship of the goddess Hathor on the right. The temples were unknown to the outside world until their rediscovery in 1813 by the Swiss researcher Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. They were first explored in 1817 by the early Egyptologist Giovanni Battista Belzoni.